Christmas came, and went! Whew! We had such a great time! My mom was here for 9 days and we all enjoyed her so much. She made a ginger bread house with them, baked cookies, read them stories, cooked them lunch, snacks and dinner, and spent some real quality time with her grandbabies! I loved watching them with her. Very heart warming! It makes me so happy to know that they will have such special memories of her one day. She is in her 70's now, has a bad knee, many aches and pains, and has a life of her own in Ft. Worth, but she still took 9 days of her time to come to our home and show us that she loves us.

Amidst all the presents and baking and rushing around, we made sure during Christmas week to really spend some family time with each other. I think, so much more than any of the gifts that the boys received, it will be the memories of time spent together that they will cherish.

I think that is what Christmas is all about. Giving of ourselves........our love and our time, unconditionally, the way God sent His son to us.

May your 12 days of Christmas be full of love and happiness!!

I can't believe how fast Christmas came up on us!! I am so thankful that I started getting all my shopping etc done early this year! I have never been pregnant during Christmas before, so the exhaustion is surprising to me. Not much energy for all the parties and running around!!

Bill had his office Christmas party last night, and it was fun. I wore a glittery maternity dress and heels, which was hilarious, given that I never wear them when NOT pregnant. Talk about feeling off kilter!! I pooped out around 9pm and went on home, and he stayed for a bit longer. Since we live across the street from where the party was held, he just walked home around 10pm. We laughed about what party poopers we are now!

The kids are enjoying all the holiday activities. We had Santa in the park, several little parties, and all the end of school festivities. I love all the holiday crafts that they bring home from school to hang in various places around the house. It makes the house feel so alive! They get out early today, and don't go back until after new the Year! They are looking forward to the weekend, as their Grandma, my mother, is coming to spend 9 days with us! We have plans to make Christmas cookie cutouts, a ginger bread house and just have some down time at home together as a family!

Amelia seems to be doing great. I feel lots of movement, and can even feel her little rear and sometimes her head when I massage my belly! Too cute. She is still flipping around frequently...sometimes she is transverse, sometimes breech. Sometimes I have a foot stretching up into my right rib cage that is soooo uncomfortable!! When she gets the hiccups, as many times as I have felt them, it still make me smile!

As for me physically, all seems to be going really well. I have some occasional bouts of BH contractions, but they usually subside with fluids and rest. The usual backache and hip pain are a bit more intense this time, probably due to my age and this being my 4th successful pregnancy. I am packing on the pounds! Total to date is now steady at 15.5 lbs. Not too bad. I can anticipate about another 10 to be added on. Just stocking up for a healthy baby!!!

I am in my 26th week now, and nearing the end of my 2nd trimester. I will feel some relief to get to 28 weeks, but won't feel the worry leave completely until she is in my arms.

The night before last, Cody, age 6, climbed up in bed with me and grabbed a brush and started brushing my hair! He talked to me while he was doing it. He told me that he was glad that the baby was a girl, and couldn't wait for her to come out. Then he asked me "Mommy, why do babies die in your belly sometimes? What causes that to happen?" Whoa........talk about being caught off guard. He is such a deep, sensitive little boy, and took the losses of the babies last year very hard. I told him that sometimes when the baby starts to grow, something goes wrong with the baby or mommy's body, and it is not able to grow any further. He asked if that could happen to Amelia. I told him I did not think so at this point. I explained that the other babies we lost, were very, very tiny, and Amelia is already big enough to feel outside my belly. He seemed content and said "I hope so."

From the mouths of babes.

All is well on the baby front! Had to do my glucose tolerance test today, and it went fine. It was a sweet breakfast, but after the final blood draw I went and got a bacon, egg and cheese croissant from the donut shop. Quinn got his first chocolate eclaire and loved it!!

My friend Donna had her baby on Monday! It is a healthy baby girl named Rebecca Leigh! She is adorable and it felt so good to hold her!! She was so soft and smelled of that wonderful new baby smell! Now I am on my own, as all of my friends have delivered their babies. I am next!!!

Talked with the contractor today, and we are scheduled to start all the work on the house the 3rd week in January!!! Yeah!! I am so anxious to get it done!!! I think once it starts, it will seem like time is flying by! Once it is complete, I can nest to my hearts content!

I did have some Braxton-Hicks contractions over the weekend that were a bit worrisome. They lasted most of Saturday and Sunday, then backed off on Monday. Not sure what triggered it. I drank tons of water and took it easy as a precaution. I think it was just a growth spurt and some stretching that got my uterus a bit irritable. Everything is fine now and Amelia is kicking away!

The boys will be out of school next Friday, and my mother will be here the next day. Christmas is coming on so quickly it seems! I did get most of my shopping done, so that is a relief! Now we can just enjoy the holidays! We will bake some Christmas cookies, go carroling, and such. I took the kids for a ride to see the Christmas lights on Saturday night. We stopped off and got root beer frosties, then drove around town. They enjoyed it and so did I! This is my favorite time of year!!

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! We traveled to Galveston early Thursday morning and spent the day with Nana, great-grandpa and all the cousins, aunts and uncles. Lots of great food to eat...fried Cajun Turkey, baked Turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, rolls, salad, carrot cake, chocolate pecan pie, cheese cake etc etc............I ate myself silly. It was great to see all the family and catch up with everyone.

We spent the night at a hotel overlooking the Gulf, and took the kids to the beach that evening. First we went out on the jetty and watched the surfers. The waves were GREAT, and it was hard to just watch. But, surfing and pregnancy do not go together at all! Besides, I don't think my wet suit would fit over my belly very well anymore!! I got some great pics of the kids watching the surfers!

Then we took them to run on the sand. They ran down the beach and back, and then they wanted their shoes off, so we rolled up their pants and off they went into the water. After wading around for a bit, off came their pants, and they waded out and jumped around. Next thing we knew, they were swimming! It was so chilly, but they had a wonderful time!! We stayed until the sun set, and then dragged them out of the water and walked our shaking, blue children to the hotel room and got them in a warm bathtub! Then it was off to visit some friends of ours at their house. They have a gorgeously cute little grandson who is 1 day older than Quinn, and the kids had a ball playing with him! It was really nice to see our friends and catch up with them again.

Friday morning we got up super early and ate breakfast at our favorite old haunt, El Nopolitas. Bill and the kids had huge breakfast burritos, and I had a plate huevos con papas with bacon and salsa!! Mmmmmm. Then it was off for a ride on the ferry and a fun morning of shopping on the Strand! We took the kids to the Candy Factory and they had gummy alligators the size of my forearm, and rootbeer. I had a caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory....mmmmmm.

We then went to visit the relatives, and by 4pm we were on the road back home. All in all, a really great time had by all.

Amelia is a girl in motion. No problem feeling her kicks now! Sunday night she kept me up most of the night, as did some gall bladder pain. I was hoping to avoid the gall bladder stuff this pregnancy, but it hit about a week ago, and I really have to watch what I eat or it flares up very badly. I have slept much better the last 2 nights, thank goodness!!

Bill got some more much needed work done on the house this past weekend!! He put polyurethane up on the long leaf pine walls in the den and dining room and put up the crown molding!! So the den is officially complete!!! All we have left to do in the dining room is to paint the trim!! I am hoping we get it done before Christmas! We still have so much to do, but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I am now 23 weeks pregnant, with about 15 weeks remaining in this pregnancy. I am so anxious for March to get here so I can meet this little girl. I have always dreamed about what a little girl would look like if we had one....now it is becoming a reality. We still must get through winter and the first weeks of Spring!!

Until then, she continues to grow, dazzle me with her kicks, and keep me in suspense!!